Dinah Shore

Did you know?!

1. About the name

   Shore's stage name came from the song "Dinah," which she sang at auditions; when disc jockey Martin Block forgot her real name, he called her the "Dinah girl" and the name stuck.

2. Big break

   Shore tried out for Benny Goodman's band and for the groups of both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, but the auditions did not work out. She then went out on her own and became the first singer of her era with huge solo success.

3. A first

   Shore made her first television appearances in 1937, at age 21, on experimental NBC broadcasts over station W2XBS in New York, twelve years before her commercial television debut.

4. Big break

   Eddie Cantor noticed Shore's singing and made her a regular in 1940 on his radio program Time to Smile. She gives him credit for her self-confidence, comedic timing and ability to connect with an audience.

5. Beyond film

   Shore's Dixie drawl and demure manner tied her to the South, and she mocked that image by taking the part of Melody in "Went with the Wind!", the Gone with the Wind parody made for The Carol Burnett Show.